COMMENT
After a weekend that had us glued to their Twitter timelines, rapper AKA and his media personality girlfriend Bonang Matheba made sure the limelight didn't shift away from them. With a rumoured breakup on Friday, a public make-up tweet by Sunday, and an extravagant gift on our timelines by Monday, we should have known that they were cooking something up. And it seems they were, as his latest single, "Caiphus Song", dropped on Tuesday.
The initial reaction from the Twitter ranks called the celebrity couple out, saying Friday's breakup was a publicity stunt.
Just days later, it seems those who called their bluff may have been right. On Monday, Matheba took to her social media channels and showed off the Gucci handbag that AKA surprised her with in studio as she was busy with her daily radio show. The couple clearly has a thing for the Italian luxury brand as AKA bought Matheba a sparkly Gucci bag for Christmas too.
And then this.
AKA first performed the song at the 2016 "Idols" final show and has just released the track for streaming on Deezer, with artwork by Okmalumkoolkat. The catchy track seems to be a tribute to Matheba, with AKA singing "with you beside me, turn this house into a home", so there are no signs of a breakup anywhere on the cards with these two. As this Twitter user pointed out -- the bag AKA surprised Matheba with also bares a stark resemblance to the single's artwork.
If this was all part of the couple's plan, it seems it went off without a hitch and we all played right into it. As two of the biggest names in South African entertainment, their timelines and social media activity are under constant scrutiny and they know as well as we do that it doesn't take long for anything they do to trend. But therein lies the problem and it is a precarious line to play with.
While AKA's actions take on a different spin when we consider that Matheba may have been in on the supposed plan, the consequences for her may have been more dire than a few disgruntled followers.
Matheba's boyfriend, who is also a professional in the entertainment industry, used his platform with more than 1 million followers to humiliate her. Then, despite remaining quiet at the time, two days later she is seen to be condoning this kind of behaviour by excitedly (and publicly) accepting an expensive gift from him. It is the kind of action that could potentially hurt them both professionally -- as they both have ambassador deals with brands like Revlon and Cruz Vodka. It could also alienate their fans and followers, who may be tired of being toyed with in the interests of them gaining publicity.
With the wave AKA has been riding of new music videos, endorsement deals and his latest music, you would think he didn't need to resort to publicity stunts that seem below him. Though, we know he's one for controversy, so it does not come as too much of a surprise -- but this time just seemed like a whole lot of too much.
AKA trolled us all the way to the announcement of his newest single